Sewing the Back Together
Pin the yoke in place on top of the back leg pieces so the good sides are facing each other. | |
Pin the pieces from the leg side making sure the yoke overlaps the leg piece by about 1/3. | |
Sew a row of stitches with the needle in the far left position. In other words you want to sew about 1/3 away from the edge of the top layer. Use a dark colored lightweight thread. | |
Unfold the fabric. | |
Press from the outside using an iron pulling on each piece away from the seam to make sure it is pressed evenly along the seam. | |
Now fold the yoke back under and fold the overlap over and sew it down using lightweight dark thread with the needle in the right position. | |
When you unfold the yoke again it should look like this. | |
Now flip the piece over and stitch it down from the top making sure the flap on the underside stays down as in the previous picture. Sew a row of stitches close to the edge of the seam. | |
Using the first row of stitches as a guide, sew a second row below the first. | |
There are other ways of performing this flat fell seam with less sewing, but I have found that this is the best way to ensure that the seam looks professional and that there are no uneven edges.
Commercially manufactured jeans use a specialized machine to do this type of seam. The extra stitching that I use produces a seam that looks professional and is actually stronger than a commercial seam. |
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Snip off the uneven edges of the seams. | |
Pin the left back side over the right back side making sure the right side overlaps the left by at least 1/3.
Make sure to note the overlap at the base of the crotch as well. |
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Make sure the yoke seams line up by specifically placing a pin to hold them together. This is critical; if you dont do this right it will look odd. | |
Sew the two pieces together with the needle in the left position about 1/3 away from the edge of the top layer as before. | |
Fold over the overlap and stitch it down with the needle in the right position (close to the outer edge of the fabric). | |
When you get to the yoke seam cut a notch out of it. This eliminates the bulk and makes it so your machine can sew over it. If you dont do this, your machine will have a hard time sewing over all these layers of fabric, and it will probably not look right. | |
Finish sewing the overlap down. | |
Unfold the jeans and press them from the outside making sure the loose flap on the underside is folded to the left. | |
Sew the flap down from the top with a row of stitches with the needle in the right position. | |
Using the first row of stitches as a guide, sew a second row to the left of the first.
Make sure your spacing is adjusted so the second row enters at the edge of the flap on the underside. In other words make sure you are sewing down the flap and now sewing to the left of it. |
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Your finished seam should look like this from the outside | |
Fold and press the back pockets just like you did with the coin pocket. Start from the sides, then the bottom then the top. | |
Snip a triangle of fabric from the corners to avoid bulk. | |
Make sure you use the first pocket you press as a template for the second pocket. They should be reflections of each other, so flip one pocket over and over lap them and make sure they are the same shape.
Even though you used the same pattern to cut out each pocket it is nearly impossible to press them over the same way unless you compare the two. |
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Fold over the tops of the pockets again and press them. | |
Snip out a triangle of fabric from each top corner again.
Jean manufacturers do this too. |
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Sew a row of stitches from the top along the top of the pocket with the needle in the right position. | |
Use the first row of stitches as a guide to sew the second row.
Here my needle is in the center position and the right edge of my foot is following the first row of stitches. |
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Pin the pockets in place. Measure from the center of the center seam (between the rows of stitches) to make sure the pockets are the same distance from the center.
You may want to use another pair of jeans as a guide to help you to know where to place the pockets. As a good rule of thumb, just make sure they look right. If they dont look right then they arent in the right place. |
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Sew along the outer edge of each pocket. | |
Use the first row of stitches as a guide for the second row. | |
Unless you want to place rivets here sew down each top pocket corner with a dense row of zigzag stitches. | |
Finished pocket | |
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